On a Steel Horse I Ride
by Dianna Wickham
Summary: Shooting Death was a mistake, as Dean Winchester soon discovered. For the man who killed the Incarnation of Death is immediately forced to assume the vacant position! Spoilers for Season 2 Croatoan.
1. Chapter 1: Fate

**On a Steel Horse I Ride**

Dianna Wickham

Disclaimer: I don't own rights to the Bonjovi song title, to Piers Anthony's On a Pale Horse, or to Eric Kripke's Supernatural

Spoilers: Up to Season 2 Ep 9 Croatoan, from that point on its all crossover and AU.

Summary: Shooting Death was a mistake, as Dean Winchester soon discovered. For the man who killed the Incarnation of Death is immediately forced to assume the vacant position! Thereafter, he must speed over the world taking souls to be judged, with Sam by his side and his trusty death horse… the Impala?

Chapter 1

Dean stood aghast. He had killed Death. He stood over the body of …Death… or at least he assumed it was Death. Who else would be working the whole black robe thing? Not to mention the bony bald skull with the vacant eye sockets and now gaping whole through its forehead. Dean raised his disbelieving gaze to his equally stunned brother. They had just been talking, Sam and Dean's last words before the chaos still echoing around in Dean's mind.

"_Dean, I'm sick. It's over for me. It doesn't have to be for you. You could keep going."_

And Dean's reply of, _"who says I want to? I'm tired Sam, I'm tired of this job, this life. This weight on my shoulders, Man, I'm tired of it."_ _Sam waved his hand at Dean's Gun, "So what, you're just going to give up? I mean, you're just gonna lay down and die?"_

Dean's favorite ivory handled nickle-plated Colt 1911 A1 .45 caliber semi-automatic was in his hand, safety off and finger on the trigger, when the door to the room they had locked themselves into suddenly opened. Dean and Sam had both frozen in surprise. A bony bald skull stared sightlessly back at them. Dean had a brief irrational thought that this was Death, and it had come to collect Sam. As if his gun arm had a life of its own, it rose from it's lowered position, his trigger finger squeezing. The gun kicked back in Dean's hand, the loud sound of gun fire resounding through the brothers. The bullet smashed into the center of Death's face. A whole opened. Blood flowed. Death fell heavily to the floor.

Death was dead. "Dean, did you just… kill a reaper?" Sam asked in quiet amazement. Dean's green eyes were wide as they met hazel, "it sure looks like it Sammy… talk about random, what the hell?"

A female voice answered from the doorway, "He was careless, and I arranged it so he would die instead of you." The woman smiled motherly at them, "so willing to die Dean? Or is it that you are unwilling to live without Sam?" Dean pointed his gun at the middle aged woman. "Who are you? Are you the one behind this weird demon virus?" She continued to smile at him.

"At the moment I am Lachesis, Congratulations Dean, you killed Death. Now you must assume his office."

Dean cocked his head to the side, "come again?"

Sam spoke up "Lachesis, as in one of the three daughters of Nyx, the daughter of Necessity?" The women blinked at him, "most people just know me as the middle aspect of Fate. You can see I am of middle age without much sex appeal, it is my job to determine the length of the threads." She was right; her face held solid frown lines around her eyes and smile wrinkles around her mouth, denoting her maturity. Her hair, pulled up into a tight bun, was a chocolaty brown with streaks of grey. She was also comfortably overweight, but moved with a brisk efficiency.

"Threads?" Dean mumbled, _this felt so unreal!_

Lachesis sighed as she rubbed the spot between her eyes, "look, I suppose you boys do deserve at least a minimal explanation, but there really isn't much time. So I'll explain as best I can while you two strip the body."

Sam stood up to stand by his brother as they both said in chorus, "what!?!"

Lachesis tapped her comfortable looking shoes in irritation, "you two will not learn very much if you keep insisting on interrupting. Dean has killed Death, that makes him the new Death, this is the way it is done. He who kills Death becomes Death."

"Punishment…" Sam whispered.

"Not at all, this is not murder in the normal sense; he came here to collect your souls. Self-defense, but you are expected to take his place. After all, the world needs Death."

"What about reapers? I thought there was more than one." Dean spoke accusingly, gun held now at his side, not quite ready to put it away.

Lachesis shrugged, "underlings, they work for Death since Death has a lot to do, but they don't have the final say on the soul's destination. And only you have the ability to use the special equipment that comes with your position. Now, help me take this off." With that she began tugging at the dead skeleton's cloak. Sam looked to Dean for direction, Dean although still overwhelmed by the events of the last few minutes decided to just go with it for now. Tucking his gun into his jeans for safe keeping he then squatted down beside the older women and proceeded to lift up the dead Death for easier removal of the cloak. Somehow it just kept getting crazier the more he thought about it.

A/N: A tentative beginning. What do you think? Should I continue? After all, who wouldn't like to see the Impala come to life as Death's Horse? Review Please!


	2. Chapter 2: The New Death

The body of Dean Winchester lay dead upon the floor, a bullet hole above his lifeless green eyes. This was the second time for Dean, standing over his own lifeless body. And again, he was going to have to leave and miss his own funeral. After all, he had a job to do. He is now Death. _The _**Death.** Complete with long black robe, that apparently made him impervious to harm when worn properly. Dean however, did not don the robes of his new office… he was no pussy Ghost Rider.

If Dean was going to do this crazy thing, he was doing this as Dean. Lachesis gaped at him, "are you crazy? Haven't you been listening to me?"

Dean had apparently shocked Fate, and he had only been Death for five minutes.

So, what else was new?

"Dean, maybe you should listen to her… she is after all the incarnation of Fate, if she says that you will need the cloak in order to _survive_ to do your job, what does it matter if you look like a skeleton?" Sam spoke reasonably.

"Not doing it and that's that. Now… before I make like Johnny Blaze and light up the place with hellfire… I have a few questions for Fate."

Fate crossed her arms over her bosom. "I will answer what I can, but know that there is information about your office that I am not privileged to. You will have to learn that on your own."

Dean nods, "fair enough. Now, my brother… is he still going to die or hulk out from that virus rattling around in his system."

Fate's lips twitched. "Still so worried about Sam? No…. as a matter of fact, Sam is immune."

Lachesis held up her hand to stall the rushing tide of questions from the brothers, "I'm afraid that is all I can say about that at this time. For time, gentleman, we are now out of. You have clients you have to collect Dean; the whole world is waiting on you to make your first collection. Without that to make you official, no one will die. The Earth is already beginning to groan with the strain of life coming into this world without death's departure. If you don't act, we could have the end of the world on our hands."

The brothers stared, overwhelmed by the middle age woman's words.

Lachesis clapped her hands to snap them out of it, "Dean; wear the robe, and take off the jewelry, you are done with living. Hide the body of the former Death; it should give Sam some extra time to get far away to avoid any questions. Your Death Horse awaits you outside; it is he who will show you to your first client. Serve well Dean Winchester."

With that Lachesis turned into a spider, _a freaking spider_, and scurried away.

Whoa…. that was awesome.

"What do you think she meant when she said I was immune? How can that be possible?" Sam asked Dean with big hazel eyes.

"How is any of this possible Sammy? Now, first things first, help me stash the body. I'll grab his legs." Together, they lifted the body of Dean Winchester, and stuffed him unceremoniously into a medical storage cabinet. Closing the door upon the sight of his own slumped over dead body; Dean once again eyed the black cloak on the floor. Dean picked it up and tied it around his waist for safe keeping.

"Dean… Maybe you should put it on."

"Nope."

"…Aren't you going to leave your jewelry with the body?"

"Nope."

"Okay… so what are we going to do now?"

"No clue."

The pounding on the door caught there attention. The door to the medical examining room they were in was once again closed and locked, like they had imagined it ever opening to admit Death. Dean cautiously moved over to the door and opened it.

The anxious red headed doctor's face greeted him from the other side.

"You better come out and see this."

Dean looked to Sam, who looked as mystified as him.

****

"There's no one. Not anywhere… it's like they've all just… vanished."

Dr. Lee, Duane Tanner, and the silent Sarge all looked to Sam and Dean, for some plausible explanation maybe or most likely guidance on where the hell any of them went from here? Dean's eye was caught once more by the single word carved into the wooden pole by the sidewalk. Croatoan.

****

Dean had the doc check Sam out just to be safe, and yep… Fate was right, Sam was clean. They all decided to part ways from there, the Doc in her car to Sidewinder, and the Sarge with Duane Tanner heading south.

That just left Sam and Dean… and the Impala. Which opened its doors at their approach and started its engine on its own?

"What the hell? When did my baby go Stephen King _Christine_?"

"Dean… Check out the license plate."

The license plate now read Death Mortis.

The car honked at him.

Dean's eyes went wide. "Sam… my car just talked to me…."

Sam looked to him, "talk?"

"Like twilight zone… my car just… spoke to me…. and I understood her!"

Sam's eyes got wide too. "Um, okay…. this must be one of the powers that comes with your new office. Uh… what did it say?"

"Hello."

"Seriously?"

The car honked again, and its engine roared, indicating its impatience.

"She says to get in the car, Sam."

"So let's get in the car."

They both slid cautiously into their seats, Dean getting behind the wheel of his familiar and not so familiar Impala. The doors closed behind them.

The car's engine spoke to Dean, it always had, but now Dean could hear words.

_Check your watch._

Dean looked to his hunting watch. The digital face was on a timer countdown. It read 4 minutes and counting, the compass part of it pointed south.

"Come on Sammy, we have a job to do."

A/N: In case you haven't guessed yet, I'm not strictly following the rules and plots set down by Supernatural or On a Pale Horse. But you still might want to read On a Pale Horse to get a general idea and to fill in any blanks I might have missed. This is a story that has been floating around in my head ever since second season of Supernatural. So, if you're curious to know where I'll be going with this story, please review and I'll do my best to update at least once a week. Thanks for your support so far! =c) Reviews are like chocolate.


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